Monday, 30 September 2013

Daisy rejected the flowers I had picked for Dot to welcome her home from her Duke of Edinburgh practice expedition yesterday.

She then scoured the garden for alternatives. Largely unsuccesfully. This Japanese Anemone was the only flower she could find. So you can imagine her disgust when a petal fell off when she was arranging them.

Her solution?

To glue it back on of course!

And she did. And it worked!

I wonder if it will still be hanging on there when all the others have dropped?

This is just the kind of mad Locket moment that I want the blog to record - because I know I'll forget otherwise and that would be a shame.

Today I made my first ever attempt at chutney. I absolutely LOVE chutney and over the summer Mr Locket, Dot and I made a point of buying new chutney and local cheeses on our (many) camping trips (more on them in another post) - so we ended up with about 7 jars in the fridge! I don't care that it's not really part of my Weight Watcher's diet - it's just too good to resist. So I don't know why it has taken me so long to make my own.

It's Old Dowerhouse Chutney from Delia's big black cookery book and it used up all the plums I carried back on the train last week after a lovely day with mum and dad and my BIG sister. (I had so much garden produce in my bag that I felt like the Town Mouse returning from the country)

The apples came from the tree in my garden - and were picked by Dot, who unfortunately got her crochet jumper rather tangled up in the tree, so she took it off and threw it to one side where unfortunately it landed in a big yellow bucket of slimy weeds and rainwater!

The only problem with the chutney is that I went off to watch a film and left it bubbling - and burnt it.

Hopefully the rather bitter caramelised taste will become something we learn to appreciate over time.

My knitting is going a little better.

I have finished another of Julie's Seasonal Dresses so now I need to knit the fox to wear it, and I have got a bit further with my Alfredo mittens although I'm finding the thumb insert really tricky to work out. I've tried looking at the other examples knitted but no one else seems to have had a problem so maybe it's just me.

And finally, here is another gratuitous photo of all my new alpaca yarn - just because it looks so lovely!

Saturday, 28 September 2013

I seem to have given up on blogging which is a shame. And a real life(!) conversation today with the lovely Jo of French Knots reminded me why writing a blog is such a good idea - because it is the best record of daily life and makes for fascinating reading when you look back over the years and are reminded of all the little things you had forgotten.

I had thought it was pointless blogging now that people aren't really reading or commenting so much - but I had missed the point entirely. I should be blogging for myself and gratefully receiving the lovely comments, if they come, as a bonus.

So over the next few days or weeks I am going to try to catch up a bit with what we have been doing in Locketland - and I'm going to be trying to read and comment on more of my friends' blogs too.

So this is going to be out of order but I'm starting with today...................when I travelled down to Yarndale with friends from my knitting group.

It was busy and crowded but lovely too with loads of great stalls (when you could get near them!) and I got to meet Jo too which was lovely.

Since knitting Julie's Little Cotton Rabbits and foxes and the seasonal dresses (see above) I have discovered colourwork which is something that had previously terrified me. Now, I'm still not very good at it but it is my exciting new "skill" - almost as if I had learned to knit for the very first time. So naturally I am obsessed, and naturally I spent rather a lot of money buying all these shades of Drops Alpaca 4ply so I can "fair isle" to my heart's content!

I have so many plans - all for little to middling projects and now I just need to hone my skills as my tension isn't great.

This is the first of a pair of wristwarmers - it's a bit lumpy and dense but I'm pleased with it as a first attempt at multiple colours - and it's really warm.

Today I cast on these mittens (on the bus home from Skipton so it was slow progress) in the blue/grey and brown yarns at the top right of the photo above. I'm onto my second glass of wine now so I'm not sure how fast the progress will be this evening but I'm looking forward to sitting in front of the fire with my knitting for the rest of the evening :)